This is the last installment in my series on fixing my 1948 Singer sewing machine, because it’s completely restored! You can check the earlier parts by clicking the links: part 1, part 2, par…
How to Restore Singer Antique Sewing Machine Project with take you through the process of greasing, taking apart, cleaning, vaccuming and reassembling. Have you ever see a vintage sewing machine at a thrift shop that made you wonder if you could restore it to proper working order ? The Singer…
This is going to be an interesting restoration. It’s an antique Singer model 15K made in January or June of 1918. Think about that for a moment. What was the world like in 1918? History recor…
It is impressive to witness the work of a craftsman who can restore old items. This restoration is of a 1913 ‘Singer’ Sewing Machine. The classic machine has seen better days, but with a little ‘TLC,’ it is restored to its former glory. The machine and parts are shown to be rusted, covered in old
Introduction The Singer model 66 is truly one of Singer’s fine iconic sewing machines. First introduced in America in October of 1902 and produced there until 1956 and was also produced in Sc…
In this post, I'll show you how to restore, clean, and use your Singer 15 sewing machine, one of the most iconic sewing machines Singer ever made.
Not sure about how to go about restoring a vintage sewing machine? This is how I restored a 1936 Singer 201-2.
Since I inherited my granny’s sewing machine I have the need for threads in my stitching machine, I am no professional stitchery artist but I have managed to pick up the basics to make someth…
Do you have a sewing machine with questionable electrical cords? In this post, I'll show you how to replace an external motor on a vintage sewing machine with a new motor and foot pedal, so you can get it running again and use it without worrying about electrical fires.
A remarkable video clip recently emerged, showcasing the meticulous revival of an 1894 SINGER sewing machine. This forgotten gem, tucked away in an abandoned henhouse, was a silent witness to a bygone era. Rust had crept in, and wear and tear had taken their toll. But in the hands of a master restorer, the journey
Restoring my Great Grandmother's Antique Sewing Machine with Chalk Paint and the process of distressing, what I used and what I learned.
Not sure about how to go about restoring a vintage sewing machine? This is how I restored a 1936 Singer 201-2.
A quick overview of how I began restoring a Singer 66-1 treadle sewing machine. Part 1 is all about the machine herself!
Okay folks, today I'm going to show you how to get those pretty gold numbers back onto the stitch length indicator plate, so you can actual...
Superb SINGER 20 Sewhandy Vintage Toy Sewing Machine Thoroughly Restored, Cleaned, Detailed & Serviced ! Ready to sew just right out of the box ! Includes: - SINGER 20 Sewhandy - User's manual with Icons / Pictograms Easy to understand for everyone reproduced
In this post, I'll walk you through the process of removing rust from your vintage sewing machine in order to clean and restore it.
Not sure about how to go about restoring a vintage sewing machine? This is how I restored a 1936 Singer 201-2.
homegrown clothing - misanthropic fibre farmer paints
If you are a member of the Singer Featherweight 221 & 222K Sewing Machines Facebook group then chances are you've seen some of the clever...
I posted about the 3 vintage Singers that followed me home a couple of weeks ago; now I thought I'd give a step-by-step of how I do a basic clean up on one of the full-size ladies. My techniques have been gleaned from research at places like the Yahoo Vintage Singers group, David McCallum's Featherweight DVDs & books, various posters at Pattern Review, and lots of experimentation on the old machines that have found their way to my house. Some of those experiments were not so successful - like rubbing your machine down with Gojo = epic fail, or dunking an entire machine in a tub of kerosene = epic waste of time, energy and $$$ (yes, people actually DO recommend those techniques!). Folks do have their own favorite products & methods; what follows works for me. :-) Here's Gabrielle - the machines belonged to a French woman, so they all got French names. (....yes, of course I name my machines. Don't you?). She's the 1926 66 as she looked when she came in the door. Well, actually, this is after I removed her from her treadle cabinet, which needs way more refurbishing than she did, but that's another story.... She really wasn't too bad - lots of dust, a little rust, a few scratches & some grimey areas, hand wheel was sticky, but I saw no serious issues, and the decals were really in very good shape. And hey, it's a treadle! A totally mechanical workhorse - not even any electrical wires to give concern! It's hard to find an unfixable surprise with one of these beauties :) Here are the tools of the trade that I use: Start with an old towel or cloth as your work surface. Then, clockwise from left: OXO Brite (the way cheaper version of OxyClean) to clean up the metal bits. Maguiar's Scratch X - Fabulous first step to remove those fine scratches and built up grime. A good Carnauba Wax WD-40 - Good cleaner for the gears & moving metal bits inside the machine (more about this later) Sewing Machine Oil. Rags Sewing Machine Lube (Necessary for a machine w/ a motor - I didn't use any on this one) Screw Drivers. Other ingredients that didn't make it into the pic: Q-tips, small cleaning brush, tweezers, little bowls to hold all the little bits as you remove them, a camera or piece of paper to document any parts you dismantle until you know by heart which little spring & screw goes where, a good non-scratch Metal Polish, and a good manual for whatever machine you're working on. By the way, even if you have the original manual for your machine, go check this site out for great, picture-heavy service manuals. I have all of the info printed out for every model I own, and it is indispensable!: Tools for Self Reliance I seriously can't recommend this site highly enough! Here's Gabrielle's gorgeous spoked hand wheel - there's something about these old spoked wheels - I just love them! : OK, let's get started! Step one is to dust her off - you can even do a wipe down with some gentle dish soap if you have a really grimy baby on your hands. I then go straight to the metal bits, & start removing them. USE THE RIGHT SIZE SCREWDRIVER. Sorry for shouting, but this is how screws get stripped - make sure your screwdriver slot is a match for the slot in the screw - life will be so much easier if you just get into the habit of doing this right off the bat. Need I add the infamous phrase "Ask me how I know?" ;D Oh, and a note about vintage Singer screws: each one is unique & unusual, and you will NOT find a replacement in a hardware store. In fact, the only place to find a replacement for a missing screw is off another vintage Singer. Translation: do NOT lose your screws! I usually start by simply removing the bobbin cover plates. What you find under here will tell you a lot about how well the machine was maintained. Remove any threads & fluff that you find with your tweezers & brush. I give this area a good blast with WD-40 & let it do its thing with all the gunk that is invariably built up here. Then I'll wipe it down, removing any excess WD-40. A note on WD-40: This is is NOT a substitute for SM oil, but it is perfectly safe to use on your metal parts. It's an excellent cleaner - just don't get it on any rubber bits, & wipe up any excess. Once I have the bobbin area cleaned, I'll start removing all of the other metal parts. Remove the hand wheel by unscrewing the chrome disc in the center. There are a number of different bobbin winder types. If you have one that looks like this, PROCEED WITH CAUTION! There are a few types that have a spring which will fly across the room as soon as it's released. When it does this, go find it (You're doing this in daylight, right?) Then curse a bit when you realize you have no clue just how, exactly, it fit into the slots & holes that it just sprang out of. Don't worry, you'll figure it out. Eventually. Can you see the little spring just behind that forked bit? The bit that looks like cute lil bunny ears (but is really devil's horns in disguise?) That's the spring I'm talking about. Just so's you know.... Here are the removed metal pieces, which are ready for their spa soak. Face plate, back plate, bobbin cover plates, tension parts (this is another section to document as you dismantle it, and/or have good manual pictures to follow), the hand wheel parts, and lots of little screws. I kept all of the bobbin winder parts completely separate in this case. Plop some OXO Brite into a bowl that's large enough to hold all of your metal bits, (JUST the metal bits...don't add anything that has lacquer.....and, um.....don't ask me how I know about that one either.....), add boiling water, then let your metal bits soak for 10-20 minutes. Remove the metal bits, rinse them THOROUGHLY, then dry them - THOROUGHLY. If you do this with SM feet (I do) or anything with tiny crevices that might hold moisture, I suggest using a hair dryer to make SURE they are COMPLETELY dry. You know how rust happens? Now is a good time to go over the show pieces (face plate, etc.) with some metal polish. Although the OXO does a pretty thorough job, if your machine is really old, the metal polish will give it that extra oomph. All shined up! While everything is soaking, you can go after the gears & moving parts. I clean up any really filthy, gunky parts with WD40. (Don't forget to dry it well) Then start feeding. :) Follow your manual instructions regarding the oil spots, but mostly it's common sense. Just feed a drop of oil (just a drop - don't overdo it....) to any area that has moving parts that rub against each other. Under the machine: On top: Inside the face plate: Turn your wheel & feel & listen as everything starts to loosen up & glide - such a gratifying feeling! Now it's time to start with the massage portion of the spa treatment :) Bring out the Scratch X, & put a small dollop on your massage cloth (this is where my old tshirts live out their life): Now, gently (don't rub hard) massage the cream on to the lacquer. Do this on small portions at a time - maybe half the bed (or less, depending on how dirty your machine is. Don't let the cream dry, & don't do it for too long. This isn't scary stuff, but you can overdo it. (I took it to its limits on a machine I knew would need a total repaint job, just to see what the limits are -- you can rub TOO hard, and you can rub too long, but it really did take some elbow grease to overdo it) Just treat it like a gentle face cream that you don't want to use too much of, and you'll be fine. Don't rub too hard on the decals. Wipe it completely dry, give it a good rub to bring out the shine, and move on to the next section. One treatment is enough - you'll never need to do it again. After the Scratch X Treatment - looking pretty good!: Next step is your wax job. I like doing 2 (or maybe 3) coats, with thin layers of wax. Apply wax with a soft cloth, let it dry, rub it down well. Ahhhhh........... now you can REALLY feel and see the difference! Put all of her jewelry and make-up back on, and she's ready to roll! For comparison: Before After Now, I just need to get a new treadle belt, clean up the cabinet, move her into her working spot, and get treadling! I'm a bit torn about whether or not to wait until I have the time & energy to refinish her cabinet, or if I should just give it a basic cleaning so that I can get started sooner - I think I won't be able to wait.... I'll be doing a post about cleaning up Gabrielle's sister, Colette, the Featherweight, soon (I hope!). Feathers do have a few other steps - they're special, you know....... Meanwhile, here's to providing good, loving homes to all our vintage orphans!
In this post, I'll walk you through the process of removing rust from your vintage sewing machine in order to clean and restore it.
The missing link in the Singer sewing machine lineup - the vibrating shuttle number 1.
In this post, I'll show you how to clean, adjust, restore, and troubleshoot a vintage Singer 99k sewing machine, as well as replace some common parts.
In this post, I'll list all of the resources I've found helpful on restoring vintage sewing machines, including blogs, forums, youtube channels, and shops.
In this post, I'll show you how to clean, adjust, restore, and troubleshoot a vintage Singer 99k sewing machine, as well as replace some common parts.
....and all the King's Men, These are Freddie's Parts, Freddie's CLEAN parts. Look at all those nice, clean, shiny, silvery parts. Yep, that's a lot of parts. hmm.... Where does that piece go again? That was me after I got everything shiny. In fact, one of the pieces in the picture up there is put together wrong. I took lots of pictures as I was taking things apart planning for this moment, and they helped. But, there were still a few things I was hazy on. That's when I went over to Clair's post on how to reassemble all the bottom stuff to refresh my memory of where things go. Sadly, knowing where a part goes and being able to get it back where it goes are two different things. Do you remember those parts I struggle to remove in Pt.7, the ones that control the stitch length? Well, guess what? They're even harder to get back in. The process you use to get things out is a lot trickier in reverse, and gravity is not on your side. You have to hold the little thing-a-ma-jigger in place with one hand while maneuvering the feed dog crank back up inside the pillar and into the perfect position onto the drive shaft with the other hand. Then with a third hand rotate the thing-a-ma-jigger to engage the feed dog crank and use your fourth hand to screw it all into place. It took me numerous tries and about 45 minutes to do this the first time. Did you catch that? "the first time" Funny thing, the screw that goes with the stitch length stuff looks an awful lot like the screw that holds the Hook Ring Shaft on. I found this out after reassembling everything save one screw, and that one screw was too short to go where I needed it to. Turns out I used that screw to attach the stitch length thing-a-ma-jigger to the machine. So I had to switch them, and let me just say, without all the dirt and oil to help things stick together the thing-a-ma-jigger falls out pretty easy. Thirty minutes later, I got it back together the right way. With everything cleaned and oiled Freddie looks and runs like new. Up Next: Pt. 9- Freddie gets Microdermabrasion
Many of us swear by specific products. I’m a fan of many of them because what works on one brand of an antique sewing machine, is terrible on another (such as
Have you ever looked at an old vintage sewing machine which is perhaps a bit rusty and thought "ooh I'd love that, if I had time to clean it...
Many of us swear by specific products. I’m a fan of many of them because what works on one brand of an antique sewing machine, is terrible on another (such as
Get rid of the confusion surrounding Singer Vibrating Shuttle sewing machines. From the VS #1, #2, and #3 models to the Model #27 and #28, learn everything you need to know.
